Thursday, May 01, 2008

Russell Martin started the Dodgers' scoring binge yesterday with a line-drive solo homer.

Hiroki Kuroda (1-2) vs. Burke Badenhop (0-2).

COMMENTS: Top of the morning, sleepyheads! Okay, so Andruw Jones' corpse failed to re-animate on schedule (he went 0-for-3 with two walks yesterday). But everything else went swimmingly for the Dodgers, thankyouverymuch! Chad Billingsley shook off his fifth-inning blues, striking out eight for a well-deserved first win, while Rafael Furcal had five hits and Matt Kemp, James Loney and Blake DeWitt combined for ten RBIs as the Dodgers romped to a 13-1 victory—the tenth time this season they have scored seven or more runs in a game.

Joe Torre's primary goal of reaching .500 has been exceeded. "Now, we have to think of five over," he said. Baby steps, I like it. Kuroda, coming off perhaps his worst start against the Rockies, looks to rebound today against the pitcher with a soap opera name, Burke Badenhop, who has an 8.36 ERA. Torre has indicated he plans to start Mark Sweeney at first base, allowing Sweeney to shake off his rust instead of getting a tetanus shot. As for the rest of the squad (sans Andruw), they should just keep taking what they're taking.

That was not a hit by the Marlins' catcher. It was a pop-up to left that Juan Pierre misplayed as badly as you'll ever see an outfielder misplay a ball. I almost threw something at my TV. There is now venom in my veins. I actually can't believe it was called a hit. I actually found myself hoping Pierre broke his wrist on the play.

And now Kuroda gets an earned run for his trouble, when he should actually be out of the inning. Ugh.

But hey, no Loney, Kent or Kemp, with Pierre in the lineup. This team is built for the comeback.

Gameday says that ball was hit pretty deep, but it's still a fly out and it's still stranding Pierre. I suppose Kemp swung at the first pitch since he knew Black Hole Sweeney was batting behind him. Too bad he couldn't score the go-ahead run.

I need to share this: on Deadspin there is a story about a girl hitting a home run and getting injured while running to first base, so a couple of players from the opposite team carried her since first to home plate. One of the comments:

Right now the Dodgers are looking at ways to use this technique for Nomar.

Hey guys! I can't even watch it on gamecast as county computers suck. I have to refresh to update or read this comment thread - so keep them coming to keep me informed. However, if you say that Jones just hit a home run, I know that you will be lying...

Martin hit a grounder back to the pitcher. The pitcher threw to second, but the throw pulled the guy off the bag, so whoever was headed to second (Sweeney? I don't know) was safe. The throw to first was wild. Kemp, who had been at second, was already on his way to third, and when the throw went wild, he scored. Martin was stuck in a rundown between first and second, and eventually tagged out.